London, Feb. 9 : Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney and his wife Colleen may not be questioned about his earnings in a case brought against him by a sports management firm.

Wayne Rooney Colleen, who are thought to be worth around 35 million pounds, are being sued alongside their agent for 4.2 million pounds.

All three of them were due to appear before a judge this week, but speculation is growing that a last-minute out-of-court deal may have been struck.

"These arguments usually stay in private because it is in no-one's interest to have this type of thing exposed in public because what you end up with is people like the Inland Revenue looking very closely at this kind of dealing," Sky News quoted Professor Tom Cannon, an expert in football finance, as saying.

The case involves a row between Wayne Rooney's agent Paul Stretford and the current owners of Proactive Sports Management.

When Stretford left the company in 2008 he took the celebrity couple with him.

Proactive claims it is owed commission on multi-million pound deals involving the football star and his wife.

From humble beginnings, the pair continue to shoot higher in the earnings league.

Court papers show that on top of his salary of 90,000 pounds a week, Rooney earns 716,000 pounds a month for image rights.

His wife earns a relatively modest 600,000 pounds a year for magazine deals and 13,000 pounds a month for television work.